Macnally, MacAnally and
Nally all share the same original Irish origins, in the two Irish names Mac an
fhailghigh, "son of the poor man", and Mac Con Uladh, "son of the
hound of Ulster". As might be expected, the latter name is almost entirely
confined to Ulster, in particular to that part of the modern province originally
called Uladh, the south-east, including most of what are now counties Armagh and
Monaghan. Today, the anglicized versions of the name remain very common in these
counties, with the "Mac-"forms in the majority, Outside Ulster, the
principal origin of the name is in north-west Connacht, in counties Roscommon
and Mayo, where it is said that the name was adopted by the descendants of
Norman settlers. The most common form in these counties is the simple "Nally".
In 1890, McNally was concentrated in counties Antrim, Armagh and Monaghan, (MacNally
was among the 20 most common names in Monaghan in 1970) while Nally was almost
exclusive to Roscommon and Mayo. Traces of the family are found in the
placenames of the north and
west, with Ballymacanally in Magheralin parish in Co. Down, Cahermacanally in
Killursa in Co. Galway and Tanmacnally in Ematris in Co. Monaghan.